Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

BUSINESS BRIEF

MARIO Monti said Norwegian gas producers have agreed to increase sales to EU buyers. The move lifted the threat of fines against the country’s two main exporters, Norsk Hydro and Statoil. The competition chief also said Russian gas giant Gazprom agreed to drop restrictive clauses in its long-term contracts with EU buyers preventing them from re-selling elsewhere in the Union.

European Voice

7/17/02, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 8:13 AM CET

US MOVES to lift some of the tariffs on EU steel remain “manifestly insufficient”, a Union spokesman said Wednesday. He said the Commission would stick to a 19 July deadline for deciding whether to recommend that member states impose 300 million euro worth of sanctions against US targets starting in August.

THE EU wants to kick-start international talks to address the global steel glut, said the Commission’s Director-General for Trade Peter Carl. He added the talks could take place at the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation or the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

AMERICA is restricting European access to its aerospace market while pumping billions of dollars a year in direct and indirect aid to its industry, a panel of EU industry experts said this week.

CARNIVAL Corp. is likely to win approval from the Commission for its proposed purchase of P&O Princess Cruises, industry executives told reporters this week. The go-ahead is expected to be unconditional, they added.

COMMISSION President Romano Prodi said the rise of the euro to parity with the US dollar had both pros and cons. He said: “I never tore at my clothes when the euro was going down and I am not glorifying now that the euro is going up.”

FINANCE ministers backed proposals to boost coordination of the supervision of banking and insurance in the Union. They approved calls for specialist committees to implement new rules and coordinate supervision for the two sectors in line with the system for supervision of securities proposed by former Belgian central banker Alexandre Lamfalussy.

SINGLE Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein has called for a 23 July meeting of regulators to target corporate governance standards in a bid to avert Enron-style collapses in the EU.